The director of Ohio State's Department of Public Safety identified the campus attacker as an 18-year-old student from Somalia whom was shot and killed by a police officer Monday, officials said.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan was a student at Ohio State, according to Public Safety Director Monica Moll.

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A U.S. official earlier told The Associated Press that he was born in Somalia and was living in the United States as a legal permanent resident. The official wasn't authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Artan used a vehicle and a butcher knife to injure nine people Monday morning at Ohio State University before an officer shot and killed the gunman, police said.

All of the victims appeared to have non-life-threatening injuries, hospital officials said.

Someone called 911 at 9:52 a.m. local time to report that a vehicle had hit a pedestrian. One minute later, a police officer radioed that shots had been fired by a man, later identified as Artan, who got out of the vehicle, OSU president said.

Artan then slashed multiple people with a butcher knife before the officer shot and killed him, police said.

Eight people were taken to a hospital in stable condition, and one person was in critical condition, although all wounds are believed to be non-life-threatening, health officials said. No officers were hurt in the incident.

A motive for the attack has not been determined, although the police chief said that "this was done on purpose." As for the reports of a shooting, no firearm has been found, but the search continues.

A police office told reporters that it was too early to say if the attack was planned or if it was related to terrorism.

At one point, there was information of a second gunman, but no one else has been found.

A shelter-in-place order was in place but was lifted at 11 a.m. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day.

The university sent out a message about 9:55 a.m. that said, "Buckeye Alert: Active Shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College."

The college also tweeted that people should avoid the school and only call police or 911 if they had information.

"Run, hide, fight" is standard protocol for active shooter situations, per Department of Homeland Security. It means: Run, evacuate if possible; Hide, get silently out of view; or Fight, as a last resort, take action to disrupt or incapacitate the shooter if your life is in imminent danger.